


No Rest For The Wicked

by Castibella_Shipper_of_the_Lord



Series: Wayward and Wicked [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Additional Warnings Will Be In Author's Note If Needed, Angel Wings, Angst, Castiel and Dean Winchester Have a Profound Bond, Castiel is Not Okay, Gen, Gods and Goddesses, Greek Mythology - Freeform, Hurt/Comfort, Keeping As Many Spoilers As I Can From Tags, Magic, There's a Puppy and a Wolf, read and find out
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-09
Updated: 2018-12-09
Packaged: 2019-09-15 03:26:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16925610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Castibella_Shipper_of_the_Lord/pseuds/Castibella_Shipper_of_the_Lord
Summary: In the aftermath of the battle against the angels, Dean has Castiel back and his brother is safe. But his heart is still heavy with loss. His only other reassurance is heading home to the bunker.Castiel may be back with his family, but the past has returned to haunt him, taking residence in the place he calls home.And unknown to them, a surprise is lurking not far away...[CURRENTLY ON HOLD]





	No Rest For The Wicked

**Author's Note:**

> If you have not read Something Wicked This Way Comes, I would strongly recommend doing so before reading this. If you don't you will be thoroughly lost.  
> (Chapter Warning: mild description of a panic attack)

It was dark. The stars stood out like beacons; the moon was a spotlight. Moths fluttered, zigzagging on meaningless courses. They caught the moonlight, miniature ghosts. Grass shivered, flowers bobbed. A single tree stood creaking as an unseen force clattered its branches. Then, suddenly, the wind died.

The world seemed to hold its breath.

And she awoke.

***

“Cas?”

“Hello, Dean.”

Castiel shivered, pulling his shoulders in closer. Dean looked as if he might collapse.

“You’re…”

“Alive? Yes, it seems so.” He squinted. “Who - “

“Cassie.” The blond figure behind Dean choked out.

Castiel stiffened. “Balthazar.” He swallowed, blinking rapidly, and turned to the woman on the other side. “Anna.”

The overwhelming wave of guilt stole his breath. He turned his face away, body wracked with a sudden spasm. His chest seemed to constrict, giving him the terribly familiar feeling of suffocation.

“Whoa! Hey, it’s okay Cas.” Arms wrapped around his shoulders, gently pulling him upright. His feet finally beneath him, Castiel stumbled.

“I’ve got you,” Dean assured him, tightening his hold.

Castiel didn’t answer, just clenched his hand in Dean’s shirt and set his jaw. He was thankful for the gloom, for while they walked, nobody could see if he let a few tears escape.

The Impala was parked where they’d left it. Dean tossed Sam the keys, and the younger Winchester started the car while Dean helped first Balthazar, then Anna into the backseat. He stopped Castiel before he could climb in next, and the former angel’s heart leapt in his throat.

This was it. They were leaving him behind.

“Sam,” Dean said, nodding to the backseat. Sam came around the car and climbed in without argument. “Get in, Cas.” The older Hunter held open the door.

“What?” Castiel said, taking a step back.

Dean smiled. “You’re riding up front.”

The ex-angel’s stomach churned at the idea of being in an enclosed space with the Balthazar and Anna. But seeing Dean’s expression, so full of hope, he relented. As he went to get into the vehicle, Dean stopped him again.

“Hey, man…it’s so good to have you back,” he said, before crushing Castiel in a hug.

“I…yes,” was the only response the ex-angel could muster. “I’m glad to be back.” He avoided meeting anyone’s gaze and got into the car.

The drive was dead silent. Even Sam made no effort to prompt a conversation, Castiel noted, watching the younger Winchester in the rearview tapping a finger to a tune only he could hear. He could also see Dean sending him troubled glances in his peripheral.

Eventually, he sighed. “Dean, do you have something to say?”

There’s an intake of breath at being caught. The hunter went slightly red in the dimness, illuminated by a passing streetlight. “Sorry.”

“Keep your eyes on the road,” Castiel tried to be stern, but cracked the first hint of a smile since his return. He heard Sam chuckle in the seat behind him, then quickly turn it into a cough. For a second, he could almost imagine it was just the three of them going on a regular salt and burn. The steady thrum of the Impala lulled him into a sense of security and wellbeing.

He looked into the mirror again and saw a flash of red hair. The previously unraveling ball of guilt tightened once more.

Anna and Balthazar were living reminders of the unforgivable crimes he’d committed against his own kin.

Dean turned on the music. Perhaps he’d felt the tension in the air, a frayed thread ready to snap.

_I'm wide awake_

_How did I read the stars so wrong_

_I'm wide awake_

Dean made a disgusted face and went to change the station, but Castiel intercepted his hand.

“Leave it.”

_And now it's clear to me_

_That everything you see_

_Ain't always what it seems_

_I'm wide awake_

_Yeah, I was dreaming for so long_

_I wish I knew then_

/

_What I know now_

_Wouldn't dive in_

_Wouldn't bow down_

_Gravity hurts_

_You made it so sweet_

_Till I woke up on_

_On the concrete_

_Falling from cloud nine_

_Crashing from the high_

_I'm letting go tonight_

_I'm falling from cloud nine_

_I'm wide awake_

_Not losing any sleep_

_Picked up every piece_

_And landed on my feet_

_I'm wide awake_

_Need nothing to complete myself, no_

_I'm wide awake_

_Yeah, I am born again_

_Out of the lion's den_

_I don't have to pretend_

_And it's too late_

_The story's over now, the end_

_I wish I knew then_

_What I know now_

_Wouldn't dive in_

_Wouldn't bow down_

_Gravity hurts_

_You made it so sweet_

_Till I woke up on_

_On the concrete_

_Falling from cloud nine_

_Crashing from the high_

_I'm letting go tonight_

_I'm falling from cloud nine_

_Thunder rumbling_

_Castles crumbling_

_I am trying to hold on_

_God knows that I tried_

_Seeing the bright side_

_But I'm not blind anymore_

_I'm wide awake_

_I'm wide awake_

_Falling from cloud nine_

_Crashing from the high_

_I'm letting go tonight_

_I'm falling from cloud nine_

_I'm wide awake…_

The moment the song ended, Castiel shook himself. He wondered, briefly, if his Father had sent him the song as a message. But as the opening notes of the next song played, he knew it couldn’t be. God was gone. There was no changing that.

They pulled into the bunker not long thereafter, everyone blinking away sleep and succumbing to jaw-cracking yawns.

Castiel jolted upright at a sudden thought.

“Dean!”

The hunter went ramrod straight, as if electrocuted. “What!?” He accidentally honked the horn in his panic.

“Where’s Ms. Kate? Did she make it out unhurt?”

Dean pulled Baby into park, mouth set in a thin line. He drummed his fingers of the wheel while Sam helped the two other passengers out of the car.

Castiel gripped the handle of the door, knuckles whitening. “What happened to her?” He asked softly when Sam shut the door at last, steering Balthasar inside while Anna held open the door.

“Things sort of…imploded while you were gone. A lot of shit went down.” And so Dean launched into everything Castiel missed, not knowing every word he spoke added a knot in the ball of guilt in the ex-angel’s heart.

“… and Via was too powerful, reckless with grief. She went nuclear and took Artemis’s body out, along with herself.” Dean scrubbed his face furiously, a hitch in his voice. “They won’t even get a proper burial.”

Castiel suddenly flashed back to the tear tracks on Dean’s face at the destroyed inn. He’d been mourning his fallen friends.

When Castiel said nothing, Dean hiccupped out a trembly laugh. “You would have gotten along with Artemis. She was blunt about everything, but in an endearing way. She reminded me of you.”

Another knot in his heart.

“It hurts, Cas. Forming a friendship in such a short time, only to lose them. I’ve just…”

 _Lost too many._ He didn’t have to voice it.

Castiel put a hand on Dean’s arm, fitting it right over the long-healed handprint scar. “I know.” And he did. He really did know. The emptiness of loss, creating a void in your very spirit. A hollowness you would never fill. It weighed him down every day, plaguing his dreams and waking moments.

It hurt.

He pulled Dean into a hug, hand still firmly on the other man’s arm. They both knew the pain. No use in suffering through it alone.

***

Two days later…

_Where am I?_

Something tickled her face, and she moaned in protest, reaching to brush it away. It bounced right back to tickle her nose, making her sneeze.

Blinking her eyelids open, she squinted against the harsh brightness of the sun. The blades of grass that had caused her discomfort swayed above her.

She sat up, spots assaulting her vision. Once they’d receded, she looked around.

She was on a hill, shaded by towering oak and surrounded by long grass. She couldn’t see much else.

Once on her feet, her field of vision was clearer. At the bottom of the hill stood a scruffy looking building, scrawled with graffiti. It appeared deserted.

Taking another look around, she spotted something sprawled on the ground near the foot of the hill, partially obscured by a bush.

A body.

“Dear god,” she breathed, forcing her legs into motion. The momentum nearly sent her sprawling, but by sheer luck she kept her footing.

She was at the person’s side in no time. Kneeling beside the body, she hesitated. What if they were dead? Was this a crime scene? Steeling herself, she turned the body over.

It was a woman. She stirred at the contact, dark eyes flicking open dazedly.

For a second, time stood still. Then the woman flung herself upward into an unexpected embrace with a cry of: “Via!”

Via hugged the woman closer. “Artemis…” She whispered, entangling a hand in the goddess’s messy curls, the other curled around her waist. “But…” She pulled away to take in the other woman’s face. “You were- “

“-stabbed?” The warrior finished. She touched over her heart, as if to be sure it was still there. “Doesn’t seem to be a problem now.”

“How are you…?” Via couldn’t even complete her sentence. She felt like she was drowning in happiness, just seeing Artemis alive and breathing.

Artemis looked around. “Another question is: where in Hades are we?”

Their answer happened to drive past at that very moment in the form of the Impala, driven by Sam Winchester. Once putting it in park, he opened the car door and got out, balancing several bags of groceries. Carrying the teetering pile carefully, he didn’t notice the two onlookers.

The two women exchanged glances.

“Sam?” Via called, grabbing hold of Artemis’s hand for comfort in case she was mistaken. The tall man paused at the sound of his name and looked about in confusion. When his gaze landed on Via and Artemis, the groceries crashed to the ground.

Via gave a timid wave. “Um, hi. We’re back.”

Sam just stared, speechless, a puddle of milk pooling at his feet.


End file.
